With the Irish winter fast approaching its becoming more difficult to get fishing on the coast. Swells, winds and general s*** weather make it very hard to get any time on my usual grounds in Dublin Bay. So like a lot of other kayak anglers I turned my attention to the midlands for some lake fishing especially a go at Pike. Today I decided to do a 200km round trip to a small lake located in the midlands. A 5am start seen me meet Macker and John at the venue for 7am.
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Hard to believe by looking at the above pic but it was soon blowing 30knots which kept us fairly busy around the reed beds. It was a nuisance drifting as this is a fairly small venue and we were being constantly pushed in to the reeds. I had even dropped an anchor only to find I couldn't hold the bottom with the strength of the wind although it did slow the drifting down to a workable pace. It was a fairly quiet day as the water was very murky from the recent storms, after about two hours I headed in to meet Macker at the shore who had produced a crocodile of a Pike, Congrats mate that's a beast !
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After seen this swim back off into the deep I set about catching him although at this particular stage I had only two bites for the whole morning. Deciding a change in lures I chose a very bright variation of a Savage Gear lure and start casting again. I had a gut feeling I wasn't going to blank today especially after driving 200km all in. The wind drove me in the reeds again so I decided to fish very tight in, in 6ft of water. I felt a nice tug followed by the line ripping off the reel. Thank fook it was a fish !
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I had some craic taking this fish in, I had to try paddle to keep from been over turned as the wind was lethal but at the same time I needed to get this fish released ASAP. I managed to get to the shore where Macker gave me a hand and showed me how to unhook a deep swallowed lure from a Pike. Their teeth are razor sharp and the strength of the bugger is unreal. It was a treat seen this fellow swim away unharmed and ready to fight another day!
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Its only my second time to target Pike and again I wasn't disappointed. I can see how this type of fishing can become addictive!
Thanks for reading
Tight Lines
Anto
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